The Green Edit: understanding facial oils

Oils have gained a huge following over the past few years for their versatility and ability to regulate and balance the skin. While avoiding mineral oil is a good start for natural beauties, where you go from there can be confusing as you work your way through a forest full of plant oils.

As with most beauty product choices, starting with skin type makes the most sense. The truth is, botanical beauty fans will often be juggling more than one blend of oils between day and night, with little concern for the suitability to their skin type. Other than making a great make-up remover, plant oils can help reduce scarring and pigmentation, provide vitamins and nutrients and, due to their variation in levels of essential fatty acids, help balance the skin’s oil production.

It is due to the latter that natural beauty enthusiasts may have noticed that one oil may leave their skin feeling dry (yes, it’s possible) while another makes it plump and soft. This is down to the balance of two essential fatty acids in oleic and linoleic acid rich oils.

Oleic acid is an odourless, colourless oil, classified as a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid. The term "oleic" means derived from the oil of olive. While often the main source, it is not the only source. Many of the recent must-have oils are rich in oleic acid - from the humble food-derived sweet almond, carrot and avocado oils to the more exotic buriti, marula and shea nut oil. Even with a basic understanding of natural beauty you can guess that the textures of these oils tend to feel richer and more velvety on the surface of the skin, making them more suitable for drier complexions, which struggle to produce the optimal amount of sebum. A little oleic acid-rich oil applied at the end of the day will replenish dry skin over night.

On the other hand linoleic acid is an unsaturated omega-6 fatty acid commonly found in flaxseed. It is also found in many of the oils blended to create facial oils for spot-prone skin. Watermelon seed oil, nigella seed oil, evening primrose oil, grape seed oil, barbary fig seed oil, red raspberry seed oil and even rosehip seed oil are all higher in linoleic than oleic acid. Interestingly when the skin doesn’t get adequate amounts of linoleic acid in the diet, it will use oleic acid to produce sebum, which is stickier and may clog the pores more readily. For congestion-prone skins, linoleic acid-rich oils can effectively thin out the sebum and help keep pores clear and the skin balanced. For chronic acne, high oleic acid-rich oils are best avoided as they may encourage congestion.

While these oils all have other benefits due to varying levels of vitamins – some will be higher in beta carotene than vitamin C and others will be rich in vitamin E – it is handy to have a basic understanding of type or to go for one that is fairly balanced in both. Argan and Baobab are balanced tipping towards the oleic acid side, while sesame, kiwi and pomegranate seed oils tip towards the linoleic acid side.

If it all gets too confusing at the counter, default to jojoba oil, which is often more evenly balanced in both essential fatty acids. Even better, it's the oil that most closely resembles our own sebum.